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Tech News 2Night 141 (Transcript)

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Tonight! The C.I.A. hacked into Senate Inteligence computers, Linkedin adds a Follow button, and the massive security flaw in USB's
Tech News 2Night is Next!
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This is Tech News 2Night Episode #141, for Thursday July 31, 2014
This episode of Tech News 2Night is brought to you by NatureBox. Order great-tasting, healthy snacks delivered right to your door. Forget the vending machine, and get in shape with healthy, delicious treats like Chocolate Quinoa Granola! To get 50% off your first box go to naturebox.com/twit.
I'm Sarah Lane, Let's get right to the Tech Feed!
The New York Times is reporting that after conducting an internal investigation, the US's Central Intelligence Agency has found that some of its officers improperly penetrated a computer network used by the Senate Intelligence Committee, while the committe was working on a report criticizing the C.I.A.'s detention and interrogation program. The Times cites an official with knowledge of the investigation’s findings that C.I.A. officers created a fake online identity to gain access more than once, to computers used by members of the committee staff, and then tried to cover their tracks. A CIA statement issued today says that John O. Brennan, the agency’s director, has apologized to the intelligence committee and will set up an internal accountability board to review the issue. The board could recommend “potential disciplinary measures” and “steps to address systemic issues.”
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Today a federal judge ordered that Microsoft must comply with a U.S. warrant seeking email data on servers located in Ireland. Microsoft had previously appealed the case, arguing that a warrant issued by the U.S. doesn’t have legal standing because the data being sought is stored abroad, but the judge disagreed. At this point it's unclear whether or not the person who owns the email being sought by the warrant is a U.S. citizen, but Microsoft is working to protect the data of its foreign users from the legal reach of the United States government. Apple and Cisco are just two of the companies voicing support for Microsoft’s suit leading up to today’s appeal. Microsoft is expected to continue to appeal, hoping for a win in a higher court.
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In other "the US government is such a drag" news, Twitter's been vocal that it isn't allowed to tell the public what kind of national security requests it gets from organizations like the Department of Justice and the FBI. The company's latest transparency report includes details that the company failed to get permission to share more details about requests concerning national security, for example, how many requests are made each year, and smaller sets of data that provide context to users. Twitter does say that its global requests for account information has almost doubled since last year, totaling to 2,058 requests from 54 countries -- eight of which were filing requests for the first time, and that copyright takedowns and content removal have seen notable increases since its last report.
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French telecommunications company Iliad has made a buyout offer for T-Mobile US, countering an effort by Sprint, which would see Sprint and T-Mobile combine their business. Iliad offered $15 billion in cash for 56.6% of T-Mobile US, or $33 a share. T-Mobile US has confirmed it received the offer, but had no further comment. Iliad has instigated a price war in France's mobile-telephone market due to its attractive rates, and The Wall Street Journal reports that it sees the T-Mobile offer as a "one-time opportunity to enter the world's-largest telecoms market," citing a person familiar with the matter.
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It's been a good week for social network earnings. LinkedIn has reported its Q2 results, and revenue for the second quarter was $534 million and its earnings per share was $0.51, higher than analysts' expectation of $0.39, on revenues of $511 million. Today's revenue numbers are up 47% over a year ago.
LinkedIn has also added new social functionality to its service - Millions of its users now have a "Follow" button, so users can broadcast their activity to followers who don't need to formally connect with them. It's a big shift for LinkedIn - previously, the only way you could see another member's activity was to connect with them via a two-way link which implied you both knew each other professionally and approved of one another's skills and reputation.
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Amidst an earnings slide, Samsung has announced plans to launch two new high-end smartphones in the next six months to boost sales and protect the company's lead in mobile phones.Samsung posted its first year-over-year drop in net profit in almost three years for the second quarter, as competition squeezed the company's smartphone margins. Senior vice president at Samsung's mobile-communications business Kim Hyun-Joon, told investors on an earnings call that one smartphone model will feature a large screen, and the other will be made using "new materials."
Coming up... when I Fix It tore down an Oculus Rfit headset, guess what they found? the answer may surprise you...
and next I'll talk with Iain Thomson from The Register about the huge security flaw with virutally everything USB.
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[Segment #2]
Iain Thomson, Reporter, The Register
You just published a story on the massive security flaw in USB devices.
- Walk us through what is happening?
- This not about malware on the flash storage on a USB (that's an issue too), but this a vulnerability with firmware?
- Apparently this includes more than just thumb drives, it extends to virtually anything with a USB that has firmware- keyboards, smartphones, etc.
- One security expert says this is a problem that can't be patched. If re-formatting a USB drive won't prevent malware, what is the solution?
- What could companies who make USB products do to fix this?
- You plan on attending BlackHat next week, how big topic will this issue be?
//Thanks Iain Thomson, Reporter, The Register
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What's inside that virtual realtiy? Our friends at iFixit, which provides repair guides and teardowns of electronics, have disassembled t the second-generation Oculus Rift development kit, which became available earlier this year for $350. Among the findings, the display is the front panel of a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 smartphone. Also, using an infrared camera, the iFixit team was able to capture a picture of the 40 infrared LEDs inside the headset.iFixit gave the Rift DK2 a "repairability" rating of 9 out of 10 --10 being the easiest to fix. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose company completed the purchase of Oculus this month for $2 billion dollars, says he sees opportunities for bringing Oculus' technology to medicine, education, and communications.
[good bye] That's it for this edition of Tech News 2Night.
Subscribe to this show at Twit.tv/tn2, and write us at tn2@twit.tv
Don't miss our morning news program, Tech News Today, tomorrow and every weekday at 10am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern. I'm Sarah Lane, thanks for watching.